Annette Heist of National Public Radio’s Science Friday has collected a “treasure chest of sciencey jewels” perfect for your Valentine!

The “MiniVerse” Solar System Bracelet is featured, along with pieces inspired by chemistry, evolutionary theory, and more!

I’m so honored to see the MiniVerse included in this fantastic collection!

Read the article:
02142012 + j = ♥ (Where j=jewels)

Get the bracelet:
MiniVerse by Chain of Being

We’ve listed items for Greenpeace, Surfrider Foundation, Red Cross, and charities sponsoring endangered animals and fish. See what’s available on our Charity Listings page.

It feels great to give back! :)

Please visit our Charity Listings page, to see more items we’ve made available for charitable causes.

Latitude 45 North Necklace - Distance measured in Beads

Each string of beads shows a “slice” of the world,
crossing through a diverse selection of terrain and civilizations.

Distances are roughly proportional,
with each bead representing approximately 50 miles / 80.5 kilometers
of Great Circle distance.

Water, Land, and Cities are marked on the necklace,
creating a wearable map:
a bare-bones geolocation device built with stone-age technology.*

Northern Hemisphere Necklace Series - Distance measured in Beads - Latitudes 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 North

Water is represented by shiny deep blue glass beads.

Land is a combination of frosted green glass,
in spring green and evergreen shades,
with natural stone beads marking the mountains
and changes in elevation.

Cities are marked with shiny dichroic glass beads:
this necklace includes densely-populated cities
on or near each Latitude.

A magnetic clasp snaps the necklace together at Longitude 180,
the International Date Line over the Pacific Ocean.

*Not for use in actual Land or Sea Navigation.

Designer: Laura Cesari for Chain of Being
Designer’s Note: This necklace series was extremely fun to research: so easy to wander off and get lost in the details of maps, terrain, civilizations, and geographical information. Super thanks to Moses Wolfenstein, Ph.D. for advice & brainstorming on this project!

WOOT WOOT! We couldn’t be more stoked! Our original Solar System Necklace design was featured in MAKE: magazine’s Best of MAKE: 2010!

There are some amazing projects in the Best of MAKE: 2010 collection, including a knitted skeleton, bendy-straw shrimp, and illuminated fashion projects!

Thanks to the fantastically talented Becky Stern for the mention!

Solar System Necklace - each bead is 20 Million Miles

Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune are all known for being surrounded by wild lovely storms of Moons, ranging from rock to ice in composition, from tiny and irregular to large and round in shape, occasionally colliding in their orbits! (Jupiter has 63 known Moons, Saturn has 62, and Neptune has 13… it’s quite a party out there…)

In the Moons & Planets necklace series, the nearest Moons of each planet are represented in Moonstone, Agate, and Glass, with each Moon’s distance from the Planet measured proportionally in beads. (1 bead = 10,000 kilometers on the Moons of Saturn necklace, for example).

Check out the Moons & Planets Necklace Series, available here:
Moons of Saturn Necklace
Moons of Jupiter Necklace
Moons of Neptune Necklace

Moons of Saturn Necklace:

Moons of Neptune Necklace:

Moons of Jupiter Necklace:

In addition to contributing to a NASA educational project, this conversation with Astronomer Jane Houston Jones inspired a new addition to the Solar System Necklace series: a beaded Comet Pendant in Moonstone and Agate. In anticipation of Comet 103 P Hartley 2 (“Hartley 2″ for short), Jones requested a beaded Comet that could be moved around on the necklace according to the Comet’s position in our Solar System.

Check out the Comet Pendant Design here:
Comet Pendant – Re-positionable – Moonstone and Agate

Check out Jane’s awesome Astronomy blogs:
Jane Houston Jones at NASA
Jane Houston Jones – personal Astronomy blog

Check out the Podcast Here from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
What’s Up October 2010? – Jet Propulsion Laboratory News

Comet Pendant – Re-positionable – Moonstone and Agate,

shown here on a Solar System Necklace.

The six-strand beaded Atmospheric Strata Necklace design demonstrates the Atmospheric Strata and various objects and phenomena that one might encounter in the Atmosphere, such as Clouds (shell), Meteors (garnet), Satellites (copper & hematite), and the Aurora Borealis (fluorite).

It is my hope that this design will inspire thoughts of the complex and delicate relationship between the Earth and Atmosphere.

The strands of the necklace encircle the wearer in the same order that the Atmospheric Strata surround the Earth; from the center of the necklace, you are given the perspective of Earth, seeing the Atmospheric Strata radiate outward into Space.

Check out Rachel Hobson’s Craftzine posting here:
Craftzine: Laura Cesari’s Atmospheric Strata Necklace

Find out more & purchase the necklace at the Chain of Being shop:
Atmospheric Strata Necklace

“I’m eleven (11) yrs. old, & dad bought this for mom. I assembled it by myself with help from dad on making the clasp and getting the right number of black beads. (Dad wanted to help so I let him count beads for me ;-) I found this fun and not too difficult. It looks really good on mom, you have to double loop it so it’s not too long though. “

Solar System Necklace Kits have now shipped to various locations around the globe: It’s delightfully mind-boggling to think about how each kit represents an individual person’s experience of visualizing the Universe!

I was very excited to discover the recent Planetary Society interview about the Solar System Necklace Series referenced on the MAKE:zine and Makers Market blogs, which bounced through TrendHunter, Neatorama, Woman’s Day, and The Daily What.

Make: Solar System Necklace – Each Bead Represents 20 Million Miles
Makers Market blog: Chain of Being featured by Planetary Society
TrendHunter: Cosmic Jewelry puts the Milky Way Galaxy on your Neck
Neatorama: Solar System Necklace
The Daily What: Nerdy Necklace of the Day
A Mirror and a Steady Hand
The Photo Stream
Woman’s Day

The post from MAKE:zine also revealed a brief mention from Dr. Raven Hanna of Made with Molecules, who makes wonderful silver molecule themed necklaces based on the shapes of molecular structures:
The Road from Maker Faire: Raven Hanna

In the discussions following the articles, readers have shared other jewelry projects they have seen that incorporate planets, stars, and other space-related themes. I haven’t seen any other designs that measure astronomical distances, but nonetheless, it was fun to see all the different creative interpretations of this classic, universal theme:

Fire Mountain Gems’ “Solar System Necklace”
Delight’s Earthly Delights “Solar Delights #1″
WonderWonder’s Solar System Necklace in Pomegranate (pictured below)
The Inspired Orb’s “Solar System Necklace”
Artsy Fartsy Lisa’s “Galaxy Necklace”
Rutigliano’s “Galaxy Necklace”
Free Time Watch referencing planetary orbits

There are even a few kids’ activities in a similar vein. A couple of them use proportional data, though with a cruder degree of accuracy:

The Solar System in Cheerios! (looks somewhat proportional, not sure of the unit)
Challenger Center for Space Science Education: Solar System Bead Distance Activity (this one is vaguely proportional: it suggests using centimeters to represent AU’s)
Museum Astronomical Resource Society: “How to Make a Solar System Necklace” (not proportional but cool anyway!)

Have you seen any others?
If your universe were a necklace, what would it look like?

WonderWonder’s Solar System in Pomegranate